Estimating Solar Wind Charge Exchange Generated Soft X-Rays in the Jovian Magnetosheath

Abstract

<p>Solar Wind Charge eXchange (SWCX) generated soft x-rays are used extensively to study the interfaces between charged and neutral particles throughout the solar system. This paper outlines the development of a model of Jupiter's magnetosheath using magnetohydrodynamic derived boundary equations and a combination of in situ Juno measurements and numerical models for neutral and charged particle distributions. These are then used to model SWCX emissions in the Jovian magnetosheath for the OVII triplet to determine if the magnetosheath could be imaged in a similar fashion to the planned SMILE mission at Earth. We determine that whole detector counts per minute range from (Formula presented.) to (Formula presented.) for various spacecraft, which are 4–5 orders of magnitude weaker than the diffuse soft x-ray background and, as such, argue that it is infeasible to study the x-ray emissions from the Jovian magnetosheath. Magnetosheath SWCX emissions would contribute a negligible amount to the diffuse background when performing higher signal x-ray observations at Jupiter such as x-ray aurora, emissions from the Io plasma torus, and fluorescence emissions from the Jovian moons in an in-situ setting, indicating that an x-ray instrument would be capable of performing observations of these brighter x-ray targets either inside or outside of the magnetopause.</p>